My True Home
by redrose7856
Summary: A bit AUish, possibly. Oneshot. Edmund slowly realizes that London will never be home and he has been changed forever.


**Disclaimer: Again, I don't own Narnia. **

**A/N: OK, this is just a really random oneshot I thought of while listening to Switchfoot's "This is Home" song, and I decided to write it up.**

Peter was leaving for college soon, his change complete. Susan, too, was adapting fairly well, never mentioning Narnia. Lucy spent hours reading in the library, probably looking for the same freedom she'd found as Queen Lucy the Valiant. Eustace was making amazing improvements at his school. Edmund was the only one who stood out.

While his parents and his teachers loved the change that had come over him while they'd stayed at the Professor's, everyone else hated it. The school bullies got mad at him whenever he stepped in between them and their next victim. Incidents like that usually ended up in a fistfight with Peter charging in and then a phone call: "Mrs. Pevensie, could you please come down to the school office?"

If he ever tried to talk to any of his old friends, they'd shun him, saying that he'd changed too much to be any fun anymore.

If he tried to talk to others, and possibly make new friends, people would accuse him of being a spy for his old friends.

When he offered to carry a girl's books, she would snap at him that she didn't want them dropped in mud as some sort of stupid prank, thank you very much!

Once, Edmund had caught a boy being rough with one of the school's horses. He'd promptly stepped in, admonished the boy, and gotten an hour's worth of detention for being rude to the headmaster's son.

Another time, at a birthday party that the Pevensies had been invited to, Turkish delight had been served to all the party guests. Edmund had taken one look at the bowl and then had run outside, almost sick. The others had tried to comfort him, but in the end all that would work was Lucy curling up beside him and singing a Narnian lullaby. Maybe it was her connection with Aslan that had comforted him. No one knew. After his untimely exit, Peter had gotten into another fight with several boys who were making fun of Edmund. The family hadn't been invited to any parties in a while.

It was easier for the others. Even after Narnia, Peter still had loads of friends who were all too willing to hang out with him, but none who cared about Peter's little brother.

Susan and her girlfriends were getting more and more into fashion. They'd spend hours poring over magazines and books about the latest style. She'd been only too happy to go back to them, and they'd welcomed her with open arms.

Lucy had always spent most of her time with Mother and Father, not to mention the armies of little girls that seemed to go in and out of their house like mice. She'd changed, but her friends accepted that. So did Peter's and Susan's friends.

Only Edmund's friends didn't understand. Not that he wanted to waste his time explaining anything to them. After he'd stopped them from pulling pranks on the teacher, they'd moved on from pulling pranks to trying to get revenge against Edmund Pevensie. After Edmund had come home to find Lucy in tears because some bigger boys had teased her at the market, he'd gone after them and ended up with a bloody nose, a black eye, and several very painful bruises. Peter had then gotten upset and told him not to pick fights with anyone, telling him that they were in London, not Narnia. Edmund had decided against mentioning the fact that since they'd returned, Peter had gotten into plenty of scrapes on his own, and without anybody's help.

After several months spent trying to still be himself in this new London, Edmund had felt a sort of peace settle around him. It was as if he'd realized that he could never change London, and London would never accept the change that Narnia had inflicted upon himself. After this, he stopped trying. He kept being himself, that is. He just stopped caring what people thought. He started spending more and more time in the outdoors, a thing he'd never done. Everyone except his siblings questioned this. The old Edmund never would have gone outdoors! Surely he was up to something! But in truth, Edmund had to escape some way. He'd taken a lot to reading an old Bible he'd found somewhere. That, and being outdoors, gave him peace. Everyone else was confused: What was wrong with the boy? People suggested doctors and psychiatrists, but Mr. and Mrs. Pevensie didn't think that was necessary.

"Edmund can figure things out on his own," they'd reassure people. And the truth was, Edmund _had_ figured things out on his own. He'd come to realize that after everything that had happened, London would never be home to him. Even with people's trying to talk to him and help him, there was still a large part of him that still wanted to be the Just king again. He was a true Narnian now. He belonged there. He had faith that he'd go back again someday, if Aslan willed it. Narnian was his home. It was where he could be himself. He'd go back, someday. He was sure of it.

_"And if I go and __prepare__ a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." _

_ John 14:2-4_

**Enjoy this oneshot! Hopefully it's not too randomly lame! Be sure to review and give me constructive criticism!**


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